Tripel Ale | Allagash Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This strong golden ale is marked by passion fruit and herbal notes in the aroma, with suggestions of banana and honey in the complex palate. The Tripel has a remarkably long and smooth finish.

Reviews by DanGeo:

More User Reviews:

Appearance: A gorgeous hazy golden that glares at you like sunlight. I got a nice bubble bath of head that retained as a frothy ring of lace throughout.
Aroma: Lovely fruity smells that reminded me of peaches and pears.
Taste: Delicious blend of tastes. Malty and fruity sweetness combined with alcohol. Mild hops and spices evident in the finish. As the drink warmed I detected a grape like taste that reminded me of a white wine.
Feel: So drinkable! Moderate carbonation that tingles the tongue when cold. Medium bodied and filling like a meal.
I have rated Allagash highly on every occasion. This is no exception. Perhaps my favorite Allagash yet!

S: A quickly rising, stark-white whip of head formed on the surface of a nearly Ticonderoga #2 pencil-colored body. The head will settle down, clinging to the top in a ¾ thumb-width. Tiny bubbles zip to the surface. There is a visible cloudiness in the body, but this treat was bottle conditioned, so that’s just fine by me.

A: Light, malty sweetness works in partnership with a dry, spicy note of clove. Gentle banana and bubblegum (and I mean really gentle) yeast esters also emanate from the head. A mild fruitiness (Allagash says passionfruit). Spicy, earthy hops probably feel overlooked, but I waved at them, made them feel appreciated.

T: Dry clove spice and an earthy, husky/straw flavor meet your senses immediately. One will also detect some sweetness from the malt and the candi sugar. There’s certainly a little fruitiness in the mouth, too. Peach? Apricot? Mango? I’ll chalk that up to the yeast. Honey wends its way into the flavor. The hops and the higher alcohols show up in the finish. It’s a slight warming tingle, but by no means unpleasant. Tripels are dangerous– light body, great flavor, and well-integrated alcohol. This one comes in at 9% abv. Take your time with this cork and cage beauty.

F: Light, fluffy, tingly, and like they said on the bottle, a long finish. A great sipper.

O: An excellent interpretation of a cherished Belgian style by an American brewery. High marks to Allagash. If you think this one is good, try their barrel-aged releases.

One of Allagash's easier ones to find.
This time and actually every time I've ever had this, it was always in a tulip or a chalice.
The appearance was a sturdy glossy burnt orange almost copper color with a finger's worth of white foamy head that glistened and slide off at an adequate pace. Sly lace.
The aroma had a nice blend of the base Belgian malts smoothly penetrating some light tones of honey, coriander, "iced apples" - somewhat green apples, Belgian yeasty character, light clove and a light blend of all in the aftertaste.
The flavor was moderately sweet touching down on a tart edge and then subjugating all of those qualities into the aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was crisp and tight riding along a medium body and having a respectable carbonation that played with the ABV adequately.
Overall, always a respectable Belgian Tripel, well worthy of coming back to.

I love this style. Malt-forward, sweet, fruity and deceptively alcoholic, Tripels are much more fun than other Strong Ales. A golden translucent body and a minimal white head, this beer looks like hard cider, but the nose is herbaceous, spice-y, and clean, like a fresh salad. The first sip is a surprise: PASSION FRUIT. Tropical fruit sweetness up front, along with a big malt profile (barley blend), honey, and black pepper. Complex! As the beer warms, I get more banana bread and sugar cane. Mouthfeel is strange–really smooth and creamy with a crisp, bitter finish. So much happening at once...imagine like a farmhouse + pilsner combo(??) Dangerously smooth for a 9%. Overall, I love the experience of this beer, as well as it's bourbon barrel-aged cousin, Allagash's Curieux. WILL BUY AGAIN!

Batch #66. Faintly foggy lemon with the merest hint of tangerine juice. The muffled gunshot during cork removal and the expansive head would suggest a well-bubbled beer, but it doesn't appear to be excessively carbonated to my eyes. The glistening pearly white head is a pillowy, softly creamy, yet sticky masterpiece of foam. The beer/head combination is clean, bright, simple... and simply outstanding.

Tripel Reserve's nose is indistinguishable from the noses of some of the finest tripels in the world. Yet again, I'm amazed at this brewery's skill in recreating authentic 'Belgian' ales in the states. Sweet-and-sour fruity with bushel baskets full of peaches, pears, apples and all manner of golden fruits. Not as bold or as clove spicy as some of my favorites, but remarkable all the same.

Phenomenal beer! I've gained an appreciation for this style over the past year or so and I can tell with one mouthful that this an impressively well-crafted tripel. If I thought the nose was bursting with orchard fruit (it is), then what word can I use to describe what happens on my tongue each time I take a drink? Explosion? Detonation?

The beer is thunderously fruity, a flavor and a sensation that is made all the more immediate by one of the most well-cloaked, yet sneakily powerful ABVs in recent memory. That is precisely why I love this style as much as I do; the combination of fruit, spice and alcohol that, when done right, is transcendent like nothing but the most resinous hop bomb.

Even though the clove and white pepper spiciness isn't overly prominent in the nose, it's present and accounted for on the palate. Not too much... not too little... but juuust right. The deeper I get into the bottle and the closer the beer gets to an estimated 60 degrees, the more I absolutely love it and the more I realize that its flavor profile is flawless.

The body is solidly medium for the style and doesn't quite match the flavor for bigness and boldness. That's not a knock though and I hate to even assign such a mundane word as 'medium'. The mouthfeel's airy, softly silky, supremely smooth, lightly syrupy nature seems a contradiction in terms, but the tactile/textural contrasts are fascinating and give the beer an incredible amount of mouth interest. I've chosen to use drinkability to reflect how badly I want another bottle. Badly. Very badly.

Tripel Reserve is, without question, the best domestic tripel that I've ever had and is second only to Tripel Karmeliet on my 'best of style' list. It's yet another bright star in the Allagash firmament and is a testament to their commitment to brew incomparable, endlessly fascinating, decidedly delicious, tremendously drinkable beer. Anyone who doesn't include Allagash in their 'top-10 breweries in America' list has a screw loose.

On tap at the Corner Slice in Greensboro.Poured into a goblet a slightly hazed peach infused golden with a nice white fluffy crown atop.Stone fruit and banana/clove phenols in the nose,as it warmed sweet alcohol came into play a little.Somewhat tart with green apple-like flavors at the onset with clove-like spice and alcohol sweetness in the finish.Alot of fruit flavor in this tripel,phenols are present but not over the top,nice beer.

Appearance  This one poured a beautiful murky but light orange in color with a gorgeous white head that came up nicely and left a good film on top of the liquid.

Smell  The light malts are laded with Belgian yeast. This is a very good yeast aroma that Im getting early on, even before the beverage warms. The fruity citrus has some strong orange in it but doesnt let this overpower the bouquet. I can also pick up some sensuous lemon notes along with some fresh lime and light peach.

The spices are mild and consist mostly of the traditional white pepper and coriander favored by the authentic Belgian breweries. Theres just a touch of vodka to the nose but otherwise the high ABV goes unnoticed.

Taste  I literally moaned with pleasure on the first sip. The flavors are so intense that they take a moment to get used to.

The yeasty malt makes a terrific backbone to the giant fruits. The fruits come on full bore at the taste and are very complex. The alcohol picks things up a notch from the nose as do the spices. This is a very intense flavor rush, so be ready.

Mouthfeel  This Tripel is in between medium and full-bodied with some extraordinary carbonation that just explodes in the cheeks.

Drinkability  This was spot on for my preference in the style and very drinkable in my book. I just couldnt get enough of this wonderful offering from Allagash!

750 ml. Batch # 71. Pours a permanently hazed straw gold with a thick white foam that dissipates to 1/8th inch with nearly perfect lacing. Aroma is fresh cut hay and tropical fruit/citrus. Mangoes, lemons, honeydew melon, and coriander. Tastes somewhat like Hennepin, which pleases me mightily. Loads of yeast, a bit of banana, spicy as heck, almost clove like finish. Mild grapefruit twang. Very Belgian and authentic tasting. Warming ever so slightly. Mouthfeel as wonderful as wrapping yourself in warm laundry. Drinkability is tops, especially considering the ABV. This is one of the best American made triples Ive had. As good or better than several Belgians Ive tasted.

I had the 750ml bottle with the cork present, and poured it into a Belgian wheat beer glass.

All I remember was having a reaction of: "Wow, this is an amazing brew!". The taste was fruity, malty, smooth, hints of german hefe (banana), crisp, effervescent, and far too delicious. This is one of those beers where you love the taste so much you end up drinking the beer quickly and you get punished for it. That 9% abv will do serious damage especially because you can't taste the 9% at all. You would swear it was 5%.

I've had this beer twice now and in my humble opinion this beer should get the designation of "world class" beer. I've had the best beers in the worlds. Many beers I've had that unfortunately I forgot to review while tasting it. This beer to me gets everything right. Looks amazing, smells amazing, mouthfeel is perfect, ABV is hidden like a magician's trick, and last but certainly not least: its so delicious! This beer I'd drink all the time if it didn't cost an arm and a leg. This is a masterpiece. I know a masterpiece when I taste it and this has the "stuff".

Purchased in a 750ml corked and caged bottle with the denotation "batch #166". Pours a sunny hazy gold with minimal head. Some winey alcohol, buttery diacetyl and fruity esters in the nose, pronounced apricot in the mouth. Creamy, cottony carbonation with astringent powdered sugar finish. Owing to the strength, this stuff will numb your tongue quickly, so enjoy it while you can!

PS The bottle has warmed since my first pour. Aroma now includes that much prized horse blanket. Taste has opened up to include massive peppery qualities which now overshadow initial apricot. Carbonation has subsided, which is also a good thing.

This is one of my favorite everyday beers. Pouring at 9% ABV you can dink a 750 ml bottle by yourself at leisurely pace just about any evening. It is golden yellow and slightly cloudy with a fine creamy white head that last and last. The aroma is spicy and fruity with just the faintest scent of alcohol at the end. when you take this beer in your mouth you feel a nice medium to better body that borders on creamy. Sweet and spicy up front with a nice rounded maltiness and a hint of alcohol warming in the finish. If you haven't had this you should and if you have you should probably pick up another one just to remind yourself how good it is.

Shared a 750mL with a buddy.
A-Poured golden/straw color with 2 inch fluffy white head in oversized wine glass-nice looking in the glass.
Smell-Sweet, Tart Apple and yeasty aromas
T-Unpleasant bitter on first taste combined with yeasty flavor, lacking the fruit from the smell. Wished for more of the smell in the taste. As it warmed, there was more of the tart apple flavor and some citrus that come through. More balanced as it warmed. Alcohol was failry evident.
M-Very carbonated with bubbly feel-a little foamy in the mouth.
D-Taste is very dominated by yeast and the for me that cuts down the drinkability. A nice beer but not the most complex tripel. A decent tripel.